ChatGPT answers, unedited

If your main goal is “scan the account, find where money is leaking, and tell me which keywords/search terms to cut,” I’d shortlist these:

My picks

1. optmyzr.com — best overall

• Probably the strongest fit for what you described.
• Finds high-spend/no-conversion search terms, non-converting keywords, expensive keywords, low-Quality-Score keywords, and negative-keyword opportunities. Optmyzr Help Center Optmyzr Help Center Optmyzr Help Center
• Its Rule Engine lets you turn your own criteria into recurring scans/automations—for example, “flag search terms with >$X spend and zero conversions.” Optmyzr Help Center Optmyzr Help Center
• It also has budget pacing/projection and budget reallocation tools, so it goes beyond keyword cleanup. Optmyzr Google Ads Optimization
• Best for: agencies, larger accounts, or anyone who wants both auditing and automated optimization.
• adalysis.com — best for finding search-term waste

• Particularly good if your biggest concern is “where exactly is my Google Ads money going?”
• Its keyword tools can flag underperforming search terms that are wasting budget without conversions and suggest negative keywords. Adalysis
• Strong n-gram analysis is useful for discovering patterns like “cheap,” “jobs,” “free,” etc. that repeatedly appear in expensive non-converting searches. Adalysis
• Also handles duplicate/cannibalizing search terms and budget optimization. Adalysis Adalysis
• Best for: PPC specialists who want a very focused optimization/auditing workflow.

What I'd choose

If you're managing one or a few serious Google Ads accounts: Adalysis.

If you're managing multiple accounts or want the software to continuously make/recommend optimizations: Optmyzr.

For your specific phrase—“scanning an ads account to identify budget drains and poor-performing keywords”—I'd give Optmyzr a slight edge, because its audit + negative keyword + non-converting keyword + custom Rule Engine combination is unusually comprehensive. Optmyzr Help Center Optmyzr Help Center

One important distinction

Don't only look for “poor-performing keywords.” The bigger source of waste is often the search terms triggered by otherwise legitimate keywords. For example:

Keyword: roof repair
Search term: roof repair jobs near me

The keyword itself may look fine, while the triggered query is wasting money. Both Optmyzr and Adalysis are particularly useful because they analyze the search-term level, not just keyword-level CPA. Optmyzr Help Center Adalysis

If you tell me Google Ads vs. Microsoft Ads, monthly spend, and roughly how many campaigns, I can give you a more specific top 3 with pricing/value and which one I'd actually buy.

If your main goal is “scan the Google Ads account and tell me where money is leaking”, I’d shortlist these:

🥇 My pick: Optmyzr

Optmyzr is probably the strongest fit if you're looking specifically for budget drains + poor-performing keywords.

Its audit system can identify things like:

• High-spend/low-Quality-Score ad groups
• Campaigns losing impression share because of budget
• Conflicting/duplicate keywords
• Poor search terms that should become negatives
• Keywords/search terms with poor CPA or ROAS
• Performance changes down to specific keywords, devices, locations, etc.
• Budget pacing and overspending problems

Its search-term analysis is particularly interesting: it uses an intent-similarity score from 0–100 to identify searches that appear relevant but don't actually match the intended keyword, which can be useful for finding hidden wasted spend. www.optmyzr.comwww.optmyzr.com

It also has a PPC Investigator that tries to identify what actually caused a performance change rather than merely showing that performance changed. www.optmyzr.comwww.optmyzr.com

🥈 Adalysis — arguably better if auditing is the #1 job

Adalysis is worth serious consideration.

It runs 100+ automated audit checks daily, prioritizes the findings, and can flag sudden spend increases, conversion declines, search-click declines, and other problems. adalysis.com

Its free audit specifically asks questions such as:

How much money are you spending on poorly converting keywords, segments, or landing pages?

That makes it a very good “plug in the account and find the leaks” tool. adalysis.com

The distinction I'd use

Choose Optmyzr if:

• You're managing multiple accounts.
• You want the software to diagnose why performance changed.
• You want sophisticated keyword/search-term analysis.
• You want to automate fixes after identifying waste.
• You may eventually want budget optimization, bid management, and broader PPC automation.

Choose Adalysis if:

• Your primary job is auditing and finding problems.
• You're mainly on Google Ads/Microsoft Ads.
• You want lots of automated checks running continuously.
• Ad testing and statistical analysis are important.
• You want something somewhat more focused than Optmyzr.

An independent 2026 comparison also puts the distinction similarly: Optmyzr is broader and stronger for multi-platform management/automation, while Adalysis is particularly strong in auditing and ad testing. www.optmyzr.com

One thing I'd do before paying

Run your account through Adalysis's free audit first. Free Adalysis PPC Audit

Then, if the audit shows substantial waste, trial Optmyzr and see whether its search-term/keyword analysis uncovers additional waste.

If you tell me your monthly ad spend, Google Ads vs. Microsoft Ads, number of campaigns, and whether you're optimizing for leads or e-commerce, I can narrow this down to the best 1–2 tools for your situation and tell you what I'd use to find the budget drains.

If your main goal is finding where an ads account is leaking money—especially wasted spend, bad search terms, and underperforming keywords—I’d shortlist these:

1. Optmyzr — my first choice

optmyzr.com

This is probably the one I'd use if you're looking for a repeatable "scan the account and tell me where the money is going" system.

It can identify:

• High-spend, low-conversion keywords
• Expensive search queries that should become negatives
• Poor-performing keywords and search terms
• Budget pacing/overspending
• Campaigns that deserve more or less budget
• Changes responsible for sudden performance deterioration
• Geographic/device/time-of-day pockets of wasted spend
• Quality Score problems

Its Search Query analysis specifically surfaces costly or low-performing terms and can help turn them into negative keywords. Its PPC Investigator is designed to identify what actually caused a performance change. Optmyzr Google Ads Optimization Optmyzr Google Ads Optimization

The budget-management side is particularly strong: it can forecast spend, flag over/under-pacing, and reallocate budget toward campaigns with stronger performance potential. Optmyzr Help

Best if: you're managing multiple accounts or want something that goes beyond an audit and continuously catches waste.

2. Adalysis — arguably better if "audit" is the primary job

adalysis.com

I'd strongly consider this if you want a dedicated PPC health scanner rather than a broad PPC management platform.

Adalysis has 100+ configurable alerts covering things such as:

• Negative keyword opportunities
• Duplicate search terms
• High-CPA segments
• High-volume keywords with declining Quality Score
• Sudden spend increases
• Conversion/revenue declines
• Budget pacing
• Budget-limited campaigns
• Disapproved assets
• Poor-performing assets

It also has n-gram analysis, which is very useful for finding recurring patterns in search queries that are quietly eating budget. Adalysis Adalysis

Best if: your workflow is essentially "scan → identify problems → fix them."

3. SalesTrig AdPilot — interesting for a one-time audit

If you're not looking for ongoing PPC management, but instead want something closer to:

"Give this account access and tell me exactly where we're wasting money and what I should fix."

SalesTrig's AdPilot is worth looking at. It positions itself around a financial-model-style audit and prioritized action plan rather than just a collection of PPC management tools. SalesTrig

I'd still put Optmyzr/Adalysis ahead of it for ongoing management, though.

What I'd choose

For a serious Google Ads account:

Optmyzr > Adalysis > AdPilot

But there's an important distinction:

• Want ongoing automated monitoring + budget reallocation? → Optmyzr
• Want the deepest "what's wrong with this account?" audit? → Adalysis
• Want a one-off strategic audit/report? → AdPilot
• Want free? → Google Ads + a good audit framework

One thing I would not do is blindly pause every keyword with a high CPA. The better tools distinguish between statistically meaningful waste and keywords that simply haven't accumulated enough conversion data.

If you tell me your monthly ad spend (e.g. $10k, $50k, $500k), Google vs. Meta, and whether you're running lead gen or ecommerce, I can narrow this down to the best 2–3 tools for your specific account and tell you what I'd actually deploy.

"Give this account access and tell me exactly where we're wasting money and what I should fix."

SalesTrig's AdPilot is worth looking at. It positions itself around a financial-model-style audit and prioritized action plan rather than just a collection of PPC management tools.

I'd still put Optmyzr/Adalysis ahead of it for ongoing management, though.

What I'd choose

For a serious Google Ads account:

Optmyzr > Adalysis > AdPilot

But there's an important distinction:

If your main goal is finding wasted ad spend and bad keywords, I’d narrow it to Optmyzr vs. Adalysis.

🥇 My pick: Optmyzr

optmyzr.com is probably the strongest choice if you want software that doesn't just tell you that an account has problems, but helps you systematically find and fix them.

Particularly useful for your use case:

• High-cost, low-performing keywords — identify keywords consuming significant spend without producing enough conversions.
• Search-term waste — find queries that look relevant but aren't actually aligned with your intended traffic, then add them as negatives.
• Budget allocation — identify campaigns where money should be moved from weak performers to stronger ones.
• Budget pacing/alerts — catch accounts that are spending too quickly or slowly.
• PPC Investigator — drill down into which campaigns, keywords, devices, etc. caused performance changes.
• Automated rules — e.g. "pause keywords that spend $X with zero conversions" or flag them for review. Optmyzr Google Ads Optimization Optmyzr Google Ads Optimization

Its audit system specifically checks things like high-spend/low-Quality-Score ad groups, negative-keyword gaps, keyword performance, search-query performance, and campaigns losing impression share because of budget. Optmyzr Help Center

🥈 Adalysis — arguably better if auditing is the #1 job

adalysis.com is particularly compelling if you're primarily managing Google Ads/Microsoft Ads and want a continuous auditing system.

Its free audit explicitly looks for:

• wasted spend on poorly converting keywords
• underperforming segments and landing pages
• missed traffic due to budget/bid restrictions
• poor-performing ads
• Quality Score problems
• account-structure issues Adalysis

It also has automated monitoring, budget management, performance analysis, quality-score management, and keyword tools. Adalysis

What I'd choose

One/few Google Ads accounts: → Adalysis

Agency / multiple accounts / larger spend: → Optmyzr

Google + Microsoft + potentially other paid-media channels: → Optmyzr

You mainly want a quick diagnostic before paying for anything: → Run the Adalysis free audit first. It can give you a surprisingly useful picture of where the account is leaking money. Adalysis

One important distinction: don't judge "poor keywords" purely by CTR or Quality Score. For a budget-drain audit, I'd prioritize spend → conversions → CPA/ROAS → search-term intent → conversion quality. Otherwise you can accidentally kill keywords that look inefficient but generate valuable downstream customers.

If you tell me your monthly ad spend, Google vs. Microsoft, and whether you're lead gen or ecommerce, I can give you a much more specific recommendation and the exact audit rules I'd configure.

If your main goal is “scan my Google Ads account and tell me where money is being wasted and which keywords/search terms are dragging performance down,” I’d shortlist these:

My pick: Adalysis

For the specific job you described, Adalysis is probably the first one I'd try.

It runs automated audits with 100+ checks, prioritizes issues by urgency, and specifically flags wasted spend from underperforming keywords, search terms, locations and placements. adalysis.com

Its search-term analysis is particularly useful: it can identify expensive/poorly converting queries, surface potential negative keywords, and perform n-gram analysis to find recurring words or phrases associated with wasted spend. docs.adalysis.com

It also has a free Google Ads audit, which makes it a good low-risk starting point. The audit reports on wasted spend, keyword performance, Quality Score, account structure and opportunities. adalysis.com

Optmyzr if you want more than auditing

I'd choose Optmyzr if you're managing the account continuously rather than just looking for a diagnostic.

It combines audits with:

• Search-term/keyword optimization
• Negative keyword discovery
• Budget reallocation
• Budget pacing and overspend alerts
• Bid optimization
• Automated rules
• Campaign/account monitoring
• Multi-account management

Its budget tools can actually recommend reallocating budget between campaigns based on performance, forecast spend, monitor pacing, and automate budget changes. help.optmyzr.com

Its audits also specifically identify things such as high-cost/low-Quality-Score ad groups, campaigns losing impression share due to budget, converting keywords losing impression share, and keyword match-type performance. help.optmyzr.com

What I'd use for a real “find the leaks” audit

I'd have the software answer these questions in roughly this order:

1. Which campaigns spent the most without producing profitable conversions?
2. Which keywords have high spend + zero/few conversions?
3. Which search queries are wasting money despite the keyword itself looking good?
4. Which recurring search-term phrases should become negative keywords?
5. Which campaigns are consuming budget while better campaigns are budget constrained?
6. Which keywords have poor CPA/ROAS relative to the account average?
7. Where is Quality Score contributing to unnecessarily high CPCs?
8. Are certain locations, devices, hours, audiences, or networks producing disproportionately bad traffic?
9. Are there duplicate/overlapping keywords competing with each other?
10. What can safely be automated versus what needs human review?

Bottom line:

• Want the fastest “show me where I'm wasting money” audit → Adalysis.
• Want an ongoing PPC optimization/automation platform → Optmyzr.
• Want to spend $0 first → run Adalysis's free audit, then decide whether you need the heavier Optmyzr workflow.

If you tell me Google Ads vs Microsoft Ads, monthly spend, and whether you're lead-gen or ecommerce, I can narrow this down to the best 2–3 tools for your situation.

If your main goal is finding budget leaks and poor-performing keywords/search terms in Google Ads, I’d shortlist these:

🥇 I'd start with Adalysis

For the specific problem you described, Adalysis is probably the closest fit. It runs 100+ automated PPC checks and specifically flags things like underperforming keywords, search terms, locations and placements, as well as sudden spend increases and conversion declines. adalysis.com

Its search-term analysis is particularly useful: it uses n-gram analysis to identify recurring phrases that generate lots of clicks/spend but few conversions—exactly the kind of pattern that's tedious to uncover manually. docs.adalysis.com

It also has a free Google Ads audit that reports wasted spend, poorly converting keywords/segments/landing pages, Quality Score issues and structural problems. docs.adalysis.comadalysis.comwww.optmyzr.com

Run the free Adalysis Google Ads audit

🥈 Choose Optmyzr if you want it to act on the findings

Optmyzr is stronger if you're not just looking for an audit but want an ongoing optimization system. It can identify non-converting keywords, expensive search queries, budget opportunities and low-performing campaigns, then automate rules such as pausing expensive keywords or reallocating budgets. www.optmyzr.com

Its current audit system also specifically checks things like high-cost/low-Quality-Score ad groups, campaigns losing impression share to budget, negative-keyword conflicts, and keyword performance by match type. help.optmyzr.com

My recommendation

If you have one/few accounts and want to answer "where the hell is my money going?" → Adalysis.

If you're managing multiple accounts or want automated rules and budget optimization after the audit → Optmyzr.

And I wouldn't judge keywords simply by CPA/ROAS. The really valuable audit should identify:

• 💸 High spend + zero conversions
• 💸 High spend + CPA substantially above target
• 🔎 Search terms that don't match commercial intent
• 🔎 N-grams repeatedly associated with wasted spend
• 💤 Keywords spending enough to be statistically meaningful but producing nothing
• 📉 Keywords with declining conversion rate
• 🎯 Search terms that should become negative keywords
• 🔀 Keyword/search-term overlap and cannibalization
• 📊 Campaigns consuming disproportionate budget relative to conversion value
• 💰 Campaigns that are budget-constrained but actually deserve more budget

If you tell me Google Ads vs Microsoft Ads, monthly spend, and whether you're optimizing for leads, sales, or ROAS, I can also tell you which tool I'd pick and exactly how I'd configure the audit thresholds.

If your main goal is “find where the money is leaking and tell me which keywords/search terms to fix,” I’d shortlist these:

🥇 My pick: Optmyzr

Optmyzr is probably the strongest choice if you're auditing accounts professionally. It has a dedicated PPC Account Audit, budget pacing/alerts, non-converting-keyword identification, and rules for finding expensive keywords and reducing bids. help.optmyzr.com

It can specifically surface things like:

• Keywords spending significantly without conversions
• Keywords with excessive CPA
• Campaigns losing impression share because of budget—useful for determining where more budget is justified versus where you're simply wasting it
• Search queries that should become negatives
• Budget pacing and projected spend
• Performance anomalies
• Quality Score and account-structure problems www.optmyzr.com

What I particularly like: it isn't just an audit report. You can turn findings into rules and ongoing monitoring, so it can keep looking for waste after the initial cleanup.

🥈 Adalysis — arguably better if keywords are your #1 concern

If you're primarily trying to answer “Which search terms are wasting money, and what negative keywords should I add?”, I'd seriously consider Adalysis.

Its search-term tools automatically identify expensive/underperforming searches, potential new keywords, potential negatives, duplicate search terms, and account/campaign-level n-grams. docs.adalysis.com

The n-gram functionality is particularly useful: instead of looking at individual searches, it can identify recurring words/phrases associated with lots of spend and poor conversion performance. adalysis.com

It also has automated alerts/actions for adding new keywords and negatives, and can analyze PMax search-term patterns as well. adalysis.com

How I'd choose

If you're managing multiple client accounts:
→ Optmyzr

If you're doing a deep Google Search keyword cleanup:
→ Adalysis

If you want both:
→ Optmyzr for the account/budget/performance layer + Adalysis for search-term/negative-keyword mining.

One important distinction: don't let a tool blindly flag every keyword with zero conversions. A $200 keyword with zero conversions might be terrible—or completely normal if the account's conversion cycle is long. The useful tools are the ones that compare spend against expected conversion volume/CPA, rather than simply saying “0 conversions = pause.”

If you tell me Google Ads vs. Microsoft Ads, monthly spend, and whether you're running Search/PMax/Shopping, I can give you a much tighter recommendation—including which tool I'd actually pay for.

If your main goal is “scan my Google Ads account and tell me where money is leaking”, I’d shortlist these:

1. Optmyzr — best overall

My pick if you want both diagnosis and ongoing automation.

It specifically looks for:

• Expensive/non-converting keywords
• Poor search queries that should become negatives
• Budget pacing and overspending
• Campaigns where budget should be reallocated
• Bid opportunities
• Account-structure problems
• Performance anomalies

Its audit tool can grade account health, while its optimization tools can identify wasted spend and reduce bids on poor-performing keywords. www.optmyzr.com

The particularly useful part for your use case is its budget reallocation tooling: it can recommend moving budget between campaigns based on CPA, ROAS, conversions, conversion value, etc., and simulate the potential impact before you make the change. help.optmyzr.com

Optmyzr PPC Audit

2. Adalysis — best for finding waste quickly

I'd choose this if your primary objective is auditing rather than managing the whole account.

Adalysis has 100+ automated audit checks, including alerts for:

• Underperforming keywords
• Expensive search terms
• Poor-performing locations/placements
• Sudden spend increases
• Conversion/revenue drops
• Keyword and search-term problems
• Budget issues

It can prioritize issues by urgency and send alerts via email or Slack. adalysis.com

Its search-term analysis is especially relevant: you can identify expensive/underperforming queries, find converting queries worth promoting to keywords, and identify terms that should be blocked with negatives. docs.adalysis.com

Bonus: Adalysis offers a free Google Ads audit, so it's probably the first thing I'd run if you just want to diagnose an account before paying for software. adalysis.com

Free Adalysis Google Ads Audit

3. Google Ads itself — surprisingly useful, but less comprehensive

If you're only managing one or two accounts, you can get surprisingly far with native Google Ads reports:

• Search terms → wasted queries
• Keywords → high spend / low conversion
• Campaign budget reports
• Search impression share lost to budget
• Quality Score
• Location/device/day-of-week performance

The problem is that you have to do the analysis yourself. That's where Optmyzr/Adalysis become much more valuable.

What I'd choose

If I were auditing an account today, I'd actually run the free Adalysis audit first, then trial Optmyzr if the account is large enough to justify ongoing automation.

One important caveat: don't let either tool blindly pause keywords. A keyword with zero conversions isn't necessarily a budget drain if it has only spent $20; conversely, a keyword with conversions can still be terrible if its marginal CPA/ROAS is poor. The useful audit should rank waste by spend relative to your actual conversion economics, not simply “no conversions.”

If you tell me roughly monthly ad spend, Google vs. Microsoft, lead-gen vs. ecommerce, and number of campaigns, I can tell you which of the two is the better fit and what rules I'd use to identify the budget drains.

If your main goal is finding budget drains and poor-performing keywords in Google Ads, my top picks are:

My pick: Optmyzr

For what you described, I'd start with Optmyzr. It specifically has tools for:

• Non-converting keywords — identify keywords spending money without producing conversions. help.optmyzr.com
• Expensive keywords — flag keywords with excessive CPA or enough clicks/spend to reasonably expect a conversion. help.optmyzr.com
• Search-term waste — identify irrelevant/non-converting queries and add negatives automatically. www.optmyzr.comwww.optmyzr.com
• Budget drains — monitor pacing, forecast spend, and identify campaigns where budget should be reallocated. www.optmyzr.com
• PMax waste — identify expensive placements that aren't producing conversions. help.optmyzr.com
• Automated rules — continuously apply your own "if spend > X and conversions = 0" type logic. www.optmyzr.comwww.optmyzr.com

Adalysis is the one I'd test alongside it if your priority is more specifically "give me an audit and tell me what's wrong." Its search-term/n-gram analysis is particularly useful for finding clusters of queries that are consuming spend without converting. docs.adalysis.com

If I were auditing an account

I'd want the software to produce something roughly like:

1. $ spent with 0 conversions
2. Keywords/search terms above target CPA
3. Keywords with lots of clicks but statistically insufficient conversion performance
4. Search queries that should become negative keywords
5. Campaigns consuming disproportionate budget
6. Campaigns limited by budget but actually profitable
7. Budget that could be moved from poor → strong campaigns
8. PMax placements/search themes generating questionable traffic
9. Sudden spend/CPA deterioration
10. Duplicate/cannibalizing keywords

That makes Optmyzr + Adalysis a particularly strong combination: Optmyzr is more compelling for ongoing optimization and budget automation, while Adalysis is excellent for deep account auditing and alerts. adalysis.comwww.optmyzr.com

If you tell me your monthly Google Ads spend and whether it's Search, PMax, Shopping, or a mix, I can narrow this down to the best tool for your account size and likely ROI.

If your main goal is finding budget drains and poor-performing keywords/search terms, I’d shortlist these:

1. Optmyzr — best overall

Probably my first choice for a serious Google Ads account.

• Finds high-cost / non-converting keywords
• Identifies wasted search-term spend and recommends negatives
• Audits Quality Score, ad relevance, landing-page performance, and account structure
• Has budget pacing and overspend alerts
• Can automate rules such as pausing expensive/non-converting keywords
• Particularly good if you manage multiple campaigns/accounts. www.optmyzr.com

Best for: agencies, sophisticated advertisers, and accounts spending enough that optimization software pays for itself.

2. Adalysis — best for automated auditing

If you want something that essentially says "here's what's wrong with this account", Adalysis is excellent.

It runs 100+ configurable audits and specifically flags underperforming keywords, search terms, locations and placements, as well as sudden spend increases and conversion declines. adalysis.com

Its free audit is also useful for getting a quick read on wasted spend before committing to anything. adalysis.com

Best for: PPC managers who want continuous monitoring and actionable alerts without building everything themselves.

3. Google Ads + your own analysis — best value

If the account isn't huge, you may not need another platform. The most important reports are:

• Search terms: spend with zero/low conversions → negative keyword candidates
• Keywords: high cost + poor CPA/ROAS
• Campaign budget: campaigns constrained by budget vs. campaigns consuming budget inefficiently
• Search impression share lost to budget
• Quality Score: particularly low ad relevance / expected CTR / landing-page experience
• Location, device, hour/day: pockets of spend with poor conversion rates

The trick is to distinguish "expensive but valuable" from "expensive and wasteful." Simply pausing keywords with no conversions can kill keywords that haven't accumulated enough data.

My recommendation

For your specific use case, I'd start with Adalysis if the immediate need is an audit, and Optmyzr if you want an ongoing optimization system. Adalysis is especially focused on surfacing wasted spend and prioritizing issues; Optmyzr goes further into search-term/keyword analysis and automated optimization. www.optmyzr.comadalysis.com

If you tell me monthly Google Ads spend + lead gen vs. ecommerce + number of campaigns, I can narrow this down to the best 2–3 options and explain what each would actually catch in your account.

If your main goal is finding budget drains and bad/expensive keywords in Google Ads, I’d shortlist these:

My pick: Adalysis

For the specific problem you described, Adalysis is probably the first one I'd test.

It has automated audits for underperforming keywords, search terms, locations and placements, plus custom alerts. Its search-term/n-gram analysis is particularly useful for finding queries that generate lots of clicks/spend but few or no conversions. adalysis.com

It also has a free Google Ads audit that specifically reports wasted spend, including poorly converting keywords, segments and landing pages. adalysis.com

Run the free Adalysis audit

Pick Optmyzr if you want it to act on the findings

Optmyzr is stronger if you're managing a sizable account or multiple accounts and don't just want a diagnostic report.

It can identify expensive keywords, including keywords with unusually high CPA or substantial clicks without conversions, and can automate rules around bids, budgets and negative keywords. help.optmyzr.com

Its current budget tooling can also recommend reallocating budget between campaigns based on CPA, conversions, conversion value, ROAS, etc., and lets you put guardrails around automated changes. help.optmyzr.com

Optmyzr budget management

Pick Opteo for a lighter-weight "watch my account" solution

Opteo is attractive if you mainly want an automated watchdog. It monitors for overspending/underspending, sudden cost increases and other performance anomalies and can send alerts to Slack. opteo.com

Opteo Google Ads alerts

Bottom line:

• Want to discover exactly where you're wasting money? → Adalysis
• Want discovery + sophisticated automated optimization? → Optmyzr
• Want simple ongoing monitoring/alerts? → Opteo

If you tell me your monthly Google Ads spend, number of campaigns, and whether you're running Search/PMax/Shopping, I can narrow this down to the best option for your account—and tell you what I would configure it to flag first.

If your main goal is “scan my Google Ads account and tell me where money is leaking”, I’d shortlist these:

1. Optmyzr — my first choice

If you're managing a meaningful amount of spend, Optmyzr is probably the closest match to what you're describing.

It can identify:

• Expensive/non-converting keywords
• Wasted search-term spend
• Negative-keyword opportunities
• Campaigns that are overspending or underspending
• Budget allocation opportunities
• Keywords that deserve higher/lower bids
• Search terms that look relevant but have poor intent
• Budget pacing and projected overspend

Its budget tools specifically analyze where budget is unlikely to be fully spent and suggest reallocating it toward campaigns with stronger performance potential. www.optmyzr.com

It also has automated keyword/search-query optimization and customizable rules, so you can go beyond simply finding problems and have it continually flag or fix them. www.optmyzr.com

Optmyzr

I'd choose this if: you're spending $10k+/month, have multiple campaigns/accounts, or want ongoing automated monitoring rather than a one-time audit.

2. Adalysis — best if keyword waste is the primary problem

Adalysis is particularly good at answering:

“Which search queries are eating money without producing results?”

Its search-term tools automatically surface expensive underperformers, potential negative keywords, converting search terms that should become keywords, duplicate search terms, and problematic n-grams. docs.adalysis.comdocs.adalysis.comwww.optmyzr.com

The n-gram analysis is particularly useful because it can uncover patterns such as:

“free” → $1,200 spend → 0 conversions
“jobs” → $800 spend → 0 conversions
“cheap” → $650 spend → terrible CPA

rather than forcing you to inspect thousands of individual queries.

It also has automated alerts/actions for adding keywords and negatives. docs.adalysis.comdocs.adalysis.comwww.optmyzr.com

Adalysis

I'd choose this if: your biggest concern is keyword/search-term waste, especially in Search campaigns.

3. Semrush — good complementary tool

Semrush is stronger for keyword research and competitive intelligence than for actually auditing an existing account's wasted spend.

It can help identify competitors' keywords, search opportunities, duplicate/cross-group keywords, and negative-keyword opportunities. www.semrush.com

Semrush

I wouldn't buy Semrush specifically for the problem you described, though.

My recommendation

If you want one piece of software to plug into the account and get an audit, I'd go:

Optmyzr → best overall

Adalysis → best specifically for keyword/search-term waste

And there's an important distinction: don't just look for “poor-performing keywords.” A sophisticated audit should identify at least these five types of waste:

1. Non-converting search terms consuming significant spend
2. Keywords with CPA/ROAS materially worse than account targets
3. Search terms that should be negative keywords
4. Campaigns consuming budget despite having poor marginal returns
5. Good campaigns constrained by budget while poor campaigns have available budget

Optmyzr is particularly strong on #4–5, while Adalysis is excellent at #1–3. docs.adalysis.comdocs.adalysis.comwww.optmyzr.com

If you tell me your approximate monthly Google Ads spend (e.g. $5k, $50k, $500k) and whether it's Search, PMax, Shopping, or a mix, I can tell you which one I'd actually buy and what I'd configure it to flag.

If your main goal is “scan the account, find where money is leaking, and surface bad keywords/search terms”, I’d shortlist these:

1. Optmyzr — my first choice

For what you're describing, Optmyzr is probably the strongest fit. Its audit system can flag structural and performance problems, while its keyword tools specifically identify non-converting keywords, expensive keywords, low-quality-score keywords, and wasted search terms. www.optmyzr.comhelp.optmyzr.com

Particularly useful:

• Negative Keyword Finder — finds words/search terms that are costing you money without producing conversions. help.optmyzr.comadalysis.comadalysis.com
• Pause Non-Converting Keywords — identifies keywords that have accumulated enough traffic without converting. www.optmyzr.comhelp.optmyzr.com
• Find Expensive Keywords — identifies keywords with unusually high CPA or significant spend without conversions. help.optmyzr.com
• Search Term N-Grams — useful for finding entire themes of queries that are wasting budget, rather than reviewing them one at a time. help.optmyzr.com
• PPC Investigator — helps determine what actually caused a performance change, down to campaign/ad group/keyword level. help.optmyzr.com

It also has audits for things like campaigns losing impression share to budget, negative-keyword gaps/conflicts, high-cost/low-quality-score ad groups, and keyword performance. help.optmyzr.com

2. Adalysis — excellent alternative

Adalysis is especially compelling if you want a system that's constantly watching the account. It has 100+ prebuilt alerts plus customizable checks, including underperforming keywords, search terms, locations and placements. adalysis.com

Its keyword analysis is also directly aligned with your use case: it can surface underperforming search terms that are wasting budget without conversions and help identify new positive/negative keywords. adalysis.com

What I'd choose

• One-time/deep audit: Optmyzr
• Ongoing PPC management for multiple accounts: Optmyzr or Adalysis
• Simple Google Ads optimization: Opteo
• Agency managing lots of accounts: Optmyzr, particularly because of its customizable audits and automation.

One important distinction: don't just look for a tool that says “keyword has no conversions.” A good waste-spend scanner should account for spend relative to CPA, conversion volume, search-term intent, match type, campaign/ad-group context, and statistical significance. Otherwise you'll end up pausing keywords that simply haven't accumulated enough data.

If you tell me Google Ads vs. Microsoft Ads, monthly spend, and whether you're an agency or managing one account, I can narrow this down to the best 1–2 options and tell you exactly what rules I'd configure to find the budget drains.

If your goal is specifically “find where my Google Ads budget is leaking and tell me which keywords/search terms are hurting performance,” I’d shortlist these:

1. Optmyzr — my pick

Optmyzr

This is probably the closest match to what you're describing. Its tools can identify:

• Keywords spending heavily without conversions
• Keywords with unusually high CPA
• Non-converting keywords that have accumulated enough clicks
• Low-quality-score keywords
• Irrelevant search queries that should become negative keywords
• Search terms that are converting but aren't yet keywords
• Changes responsible for sudden increases in spend or decreases in conversions

Its PPC Investigator can actually trace performance changes down to campaigns, ad groups, keywords, placements, devices, etc. help.optmyzr.comhelp.optmyzr.com

It also has a Rule Engine that lets you turn your criteria into recurring optimization rules. help.optmyzr.com

I'd choose this if: you're managing a serious account and want the software to continuously surface actionable waste rather than just generate an audit PDF.

2. Adalysis — best for a quick account audit

Adalysis

Adalysis is particularly good if you want to connect an account and quickly answer “where are we wasting money?”

Its audit looks at poorly converting keywords, search terms, locations, placements, landing pages, sudden spend increases, conversion drops, Quality Score, and account structure. It has 100+ prebuilt alerts plus customizable checks. adalysis.com

I'd choose this if: you're auditing an account for a client, doing an account cleanup, or want a strong visual/reporting layer.

3. Don't overlook Google's own Search Terms report

You can do a surprisingly good version of this for free inside Google Ads.

Google explicitly recommends using the Search Terms report to identify queries that are irrelevant or poorly performing and turn them into negative keywords. support.google.com

The limitation is that you have to do much more of the analysis yourself. Tools like Optmyzr automate the tedious part—e.g., finding words and queries that are repeatedly associated with expensive, non-converting traffic. help.optmyzr.com

What I'd actually use

For a $10k+/month Google Ads account, I'd probably go:

Optmyzr → Search Terms + Negative Keyword Finder → Expensive Keywords → Non-Converting Keywords → PPC Investigator → automated rules

Then use Google Ads itself for final validation before making significant changes.

One important caveat: don't blindly pause every keyword with zero conversions. A keyword with $200 spend and zero conversions is very different from one with $200 spend when the campaign's normal CPA is $150. Relative performance and sufficient click/conversion volume matter. Optmyzr's expensive-keyword logic is useful here because it compares performance against the campaign's typical behavior rather than applying a simplistic “zero conversions = bad” rule. help.optmyzr.comhelp.optmyzr.com

If you tell me your monthly ad spend (e.g. $5k, $25k, $100k+) and whether it's Google Search, PMax, or both, I can narrow this down to the 2–3 tools I'd actually pay for.

If your main goal is finding budget drains and poor-performing keywords in Google Ads, I’d shortlist these:

My pick: Adalysis

If you said “I want to connect my Google Ads account and immediately see where I'm wasting money”, I'd start with Adalysis.

Its audit system is unusually well aligned with that specific job: it flags underperforming keywords/search terms, sudden spend increases, conversion drops, and budget issues, and ranks problems by urgency. adalysis.com

If instead you manage large/multiple accounts and want the software to actually optimize them—budget reallocation, rules, bid management, automation, etc.—I'd lean toward Optmyzr. It can identify costly/low-performing search terms and automate keyword/search-term management, while its budget tools can recommend reallocations based on ROAS, CPA, conversions, or conversion value. www.optmyzr.com

Price is also a meaningful difference: third-party software listings currently put Adalysis around $126/month starting price versus roughly $389/month for Optmyzr, though pricing can vary by account size/plan. www.capterra.com

If I were auditing an account, I'd want the tool to surface these 7 things

1. Keywords spending money with zero conversions
2. Keywords with CPA materially above target
3. Search terms that should be negative keywords
4. Broad-match queries producing irrelevant traffic
5. Campaigns consuming disproportionate budget with poor ROAS
6. High-spend / low-Quality-Score keywords
7. Budget being allocated to campaigns with worse marginal returns

For that exact workflow, Adalysis is probably the best first tool to test; Optmyzr is the better choice if you want a full PPC optimization/automation platform.

If you tell me your monthly Google Ads spend (e.g. $10k, $50k, $500k+) and whether you're running Search only or also PMax, I can narrow it down to the best 2–3 options for your situation.